2002 Top Truck Challenge - In the Beginning

In The BeginningAfter a no-holds-barred barbecue welcome dinner the night before, the competitors wake to a frenzy of measuring and engineering scrutiny. While this is easy for the competitors, it isn't for the judges. They are busy measuring average ground clearance, turning radius, approach and departure angles, and RTI. Once all the measurements are taken, our industrious judges spend some time crawling around, under and in every vehicle to score the quality of engineering of each. Then it's off to the photo shoot (the results of which you saw last month) and some time with the film crew for the Top Truck Challenge video. Check out page 84 of this issue to order this year's video-we promise, it's much better than last year's. Then we do the ride-and-drive portion of the competition, in which the judges ride in each vehicle to get an idea of its pavement prowess.

All of those activities pretty much burn up one whole day, and the fun doesn't start back up until the morning of Day Two, when the competitors meet at the Hollister airport, where we cordon off a taxiway to perform the acceleration testing. Since a balanced vehicle is important, we also see who has the best brakes and can go 40 to 0 mph the quickest. Once we're done, we head back up to the Hollister Hills SVRA to kick things off with the Tow Test, a brutal test of raw power, traction, suspension, and drivetrain strength.

In the acceleration test, the competitors like Jerry Cantrell stomp on the gas to see who can make it down the runway the fastest. Smoke and noise is always the result.

Acceleration

(seconds)

1. John's {{{Bronco}}}

12.51

2. Tim's Toy

14.00

3. Jesse's 'Yota

14.94

4. Corey's Chevy

14.96

5. Barry's Frog

15.37

6. Abba's Scout

15.47

7. Jerry's {{{Jeep}}}

15.66

8. Toby's Flattie

15.88

9. Bob's {{{Blazer}}}

15.94

10. Scott's Raptor

18.75

The braking test is straightforward. Each rig gets up to 40 mph and then slams on the brakes to try to record the shortest stopping distance. Being one of the lighter rigs of the bunch helped, as Jesse Haines was able to coax his Toyota down to zero mph in the second shortest distance.

Braking-40 to 0 mph

(feet)

1. Barry's Frog

63.11

2. Jesse's 'Yota

72.00

3. Scott's Raptor

76.20

4. Tim's Toy

76.50

5. John's Bronco

79.10

6. Corey's Chevy

79.40

7. Jerry's Jeep

86.20

8. Bob's Blazer

99.60

9. Toby's Flattie

116.40

10. Abba's Scout

145.60

For the tow test, the competitors get strapped to the heaviest piece of equipment we can find. They then have to drag it as far up a hill as possible. This year it was a three-axle dump truck, loaded. Total weight was 35,000 pounds.

Tow Test

(distance or time if full pull)

1. Barry's Frog

12.12 seconds

2. Corey's Chevy

13.09 seconds

3. Abba's Scout

113.10 feet

4. Tim's Toy

108.10 feet

5. Bob's Blazer

106.50 feet

6. Scott's Raptor

105.40 feet

7. Jerry's Jeep

103.40 feet

8. Jesse's 'Yota

95.{{{80}}} feet

9. Toby's Flattie

95.20 feet

10. John's Bronco

94.10 feet

Scott Godfrey's Raptor clawed for traction during the tow test, lifting its front wheels right off the ground. Scott was only able to get up 105 feet, resulting in a Sixth-place finish.

Ride and Drive

(Points)

1. Cory's Chevy

38.0

2. Abba's Scout

34.0

3. Jerry's Jeep

33.5

4. Bob's Blazer

30.0

5. Toby's Flattie

24.0

6. John's Bronco

22.0

7. Jesse's 'Yota

19.0

8. Tim's Toy

16.0

9. Barry's Frog

12.0

10. Scott's Raptor

7.0

Turning Radius

(feet)

1. John's Bronco

23.70

2. Scott's Raptor

27.60

3. Bob's Blazer

37.30

4. Toby's Flattie

39.30

5. Barry's Frog

39.70

6. Jerry's Jeep

43.11

7. Jesse's 'Yota

46.10

8. Corey's Chevy

47.00

9. Abba's Scout

50.80

10. Tim's Toy

{{{62}}}.00

During the engineering judging, the competitors get a chance to explain how and why their vehicle was built. Then the judges look over every nook and cranny to rate build quality.

Engineering

(Points)

1. John's Bronco

45.5

2. Jerry's Jeep

37.0

3. Abba's Scout

34.5

4. Scott's Raptor

31.0

5. Toby's Flattie

30.5

6. Bob's Blazer

28.0

7. Tim's Toy

25.5

8. Cory's Chevy

25.0

9. Jesse's 'Yota

22.0

10. Barry's Frog

20.5

Barry's Frog, fresh from being shipped from Israel, showed an impressive amount of flex. It ramped out an RTI score of 982 on the 30-degree ramp, making it the third-flexiest vehicle of the bunch.